UN Office of the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide and the International Criminal Court Prosecutor: Investigate the Possibility that Israel is Committing the Crime of Genocide Against the Palestinian People

In a section titled “Invest/Divest,” the MBL platform accuses the US of complicity “in the genocide taking place against the Palestinian people,” refers to Israel as “an apartheid state” and calls for ending US military and financial aid to Israel, arguing that it “diverts much needed funding from domestic education and social programs” in the US.

The backlash from pro-Israel groups and media outlets was swift, with the most scathing coming from the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) in Boston, a member of a national network of communal organizations that lobby for Israel, including by supporting anti-BDS laws in state legislatures around the country… “JCRC cannot and will not align ourselves with organizations that falsely and maliciously assert that Israel is committing ‘genocide,’” the group said in a statement published two days after the MBL platform’s release.

… Such dismissiveness and condescension ignores the growing chorus of scholars, including University of Exeter historian Ilan Pappe and the late Michael Ratner, long-time president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, who have argued that Israel’s conduct towards Palestinians since 1948 constitutes a systematic process of “incremental genocide” as defined by international law.

We refuse to follow leaders that force us to choose between Jewish community and one of the most powerful movements of our time. We recognize the explicit links between Black, Palestinian, and Jewish liberation. We support relationships of solidarity and mutual support among marginalized peoples, understanding that anti-semitism and the fear that comes with it so often get in the way. While it is our task to battle anti-semitism, we cannot do so without battling injustice wherever it lives, in the United States and in Israel-Palestine.

We’re living in a historic moment: will we rise to the challenge and heed the call of the Movement for Black Lives? Or will we turn our backs, forsaking our values as a people who stand on the side of the oppressed?

We call on the Boston JCRC to retract its statement condemning the Movement for Black Lives and its Platform.